Chapter 1
“Mommy! Daddy! What’s happening?!” I question as my parents, twin sister and I run with the nurses and doctors who are wheeling my five year old
sister away on a gurney.
“Nevaeh, honey, Lucy isn’t feeling very well.” My mom answers, holding my twin sister, Heaven’s, hand, tears steaming down her face,
“The doctors are going to help her.” My dad adds, holding my hand.
“Is she going to be okay?” Heaven asks, fear in her eyes.
And in that moment, my parents decided to be honest to our 9 year old selves.
“We don’t know.”
A few hours later, we were all seated in the waiting room.
A doctor comes out of Lucy’s room.
Lucy’s doctor.
He looks at us with glassy eyes and utters the two words nobody wants to hear.
“I’m sorry.”
And that was the day I lost my baby sister to cancer.
Years later, we were in the same hospital and outside the same emergency room, watching doctors and nurses running in and out.
“Mom, dad, please tell me she’s going to be okay!” 15 year old me yells as we run after the doctors and nurses who are wheeling Heaven away on a
gurney.
“We can’t, baby, we can’t.” Mom says, holding my hand tightly.
Hours later, we sit in the waiting room.
My parents on the chairs and me on the floor.
The doctor comes out of my sister’s room.
Heaven and Lucy’s doctor.
And then, he utters those exact two words he said six years ago.
“I’m sorry.”
And that was the day I lost my twin sister to cancer. I lost two sisters to this shit.
I became an only child.
After Heaven’s death, you’d think that my parents would be more protective and favour their last daughter, but no. After the immense tragedy, my parents were unable to escape the shadow of losing their daughters in succession, both becoming melancholic and quick to anger. My parents don’t give a flying fuck about me. Well, I meant my mother. My dad walked out on us after the funeral. Now it’s just me, and my hag of a mother.
After the funeral, my mom packed up and we moved from New Zealand to America. To leave our tragedy.
I’ve been living in California for two years now. I’m seventeen. I only have one friend, her name’s Megan.
And no, it’s not because I’m loser or some shit. It’s because I keep to myself and I wear my hoodie all the time. Hood up and the only thing visible is my lips. It’s comes across as intimidating to a lot of people.
The reason I wear my hoodie is because, well, Heaven and I were identical twins. The only different was that I have blue eyes and she had green. I can’t exactly look at myself in the mirror and think all happy–go–lucky thoughts.
5.7%
Chapter 1,
So ever since her death, I’ve been wearing my basketball hoodie from my old school. It’s says N. Carter on the back, bottom. My sister had an identical one with says H. Carter. I have hers in a box in the back of my closet with a lot of her other things.
Heaven, Lucy and I all had matching necklaces, which were the in the shape of a Maori fishhook, with a Maori design on the bottom, to represent our culture, seeing as we are all half Maori.
And basketball? I stopped playing after Heaven’s death. I was captain and she was co–captain. I had seven months on her as I started playing before her. But man, we worked well together on court. We also loved to pull pranks. Everyone knew us.
And here? I didn’t want everyone to know me. Yet they do. But it’s not because I’m popular. It’s because of my hoodie. No one knows what I look like. They know me as The Hoodie Girl.
I walk into school, backpack hitched on my shoulder. As I reach my locker, I see Megan already waiting there.
“Hey, Vae.” She greets as she sees me approaching.
“Hey.” I nod. I see her looking at me expectantly and sigh. “Yes, I took my pills.”
ADHD, abbreviation for Attention–Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Obviously, I was born with it, but it was pretty mild. It became worse after Heaven’s passing. If I don’t take my pills, I can’t focus, I get jittery, and I get angry easily.
“Good.” Megan nods. “Anyway, guess what.” She says excitedly.
“Jenny Lingard decided to join the circus?” I question sarcastically.
Jenny Lingard. Eastview High School’s very own Regina George. That girl pisses me the hell off.
Megan giggles. “I wish, but no. Noah King, Max O’Connell and Dylan Anderson are coming back!”
“Who?” I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Who the hell are Noah King, Max O’Connell and Dylan Anderson?
“Oh, right. I forgot you only have moved here for only two years.” Megan face palms. “Sophomore year, a few weeks before you moved here, Noah, Max and Dylan were all arrested and sent to juvie. And now? They’re coming back! Today!”
“What a cool group of people!” I mocked.
But Meghan paid no heed to my sarcasm. Excitedly, she continued, “Besides, they are quite handsome! Noah King, bad boy and hottest guy in school. Copper brown hair and greenish–blue eyes. And he’s got a dimple on his left cheek. Max O’Connell, Noah’s best friend since pre–school and also a bad boy. Second hottest guy in school. Brown hair and caramel eyes. Dylan Anderson, also Noah and Max’s best friend since pre–school and second hottest guy in school, tied with Max. Blonde hair and hazel brown eyes.”
“Okay.” I nod, letting all the information sink in.
“You know, if you take the hood off, you could be just as hot as Noah.” She trails off.
I glare at her. “Not happening.”
“I know.” She deflates. “But honestly, olive skin, light brown hair, dimples, and the bluest eyes ever! You’re stunning, Nevaeh.”
Yes, Megan knows what I look like. I’m mean, she is my best friend.
“Thanks.” I smile softly. “Not too bad yourself, Megs.”
Megan and I stop walking as everyone freezes and stares at the opening entrance door so of the school.
Three boys walk through like in a damn movie. I mean, what is this? Mean Boys?
They match Megan’s description perfectly, yet I didn’t expect them to be this good looking, especially the one I’m guessing is Noah.
“That’s them!” Megan whispers excitedly, nudging my arm.
“I can tell.” I chuckle.
As Noah, Max and Dylan walk past, Noah’s piercing eyes trained on me.
I wonder why.
